BlogHer - pregnancy - Comments

If you think cobbling

Kedu — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 20:27:15 -0600

If you think cobbling together maternity leave is tough, try adoption leave! It's especially difficult as the timeline is often unpredictable. And it's rare for any of it to be paid.

Patched

Jill Miller Zimon — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 22:33:23 -0600

That was the operative word for me from 1994 through 2000 when I had my kids while working a variety of arrangements, including fulltime, parttime, telecommuting, independent contracting - you name it. But now, nearly 15 years out from when I first had to start...cobbling, I refer to it as a patchwork. Cobbled does it too though.

It continues to be very challenging - and I'm one of the lucky ones.

Jill Writes Like She Talks

It is really complicated

HelloLadies — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 10:37:00 -0600

You touched on one of the key points: leave policies vary at each company. Cross check the info you get from your insurance company, HR dept. and manager. They may all tell you three different things. http://www.helloladies.com

OH Dear

JennaHatfield — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 08:45:32 -0600

Gosh. It took me a full two minutes to figure out what STD meant. (Short-term disability.) I couldn't figure out why we were talking about sexually transmitted diseases!

With our older son, it was extremely complicated. I was put on bedrest at 30 weeks. My employer was kind enough to pay me until the point I said I was taking leave (at 38 weeks). I then had 10 weeks of unpaid time whereupon I went back, part time, to get things ready for my full time return two weeks later. Thankfully, my husband and I knew that my pregnancies were horribly complicated and had budgeted accordingly. I am also thankful that my employer was kind enough to have my back. (I did answer calls when they called with questions.)

Then again, with our younger son, when I was freelancing, I had to work three days after his birth to make my deadlines. Such is life.

@FireMom from Stop, Drop and Blog and The Chronicles of Munchkin Land

Enjoy your maternity leave

Rachael Henning — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 23:13:55 -0600

Freelancer here and I have no option, no maternity. In other countries, doesn't the government help with that kind of thing? eek! Enjoy what you get:)

That sounds really complicated...

kazari — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 22:33:31 -0600

In Australia, there is no mandated PAID maternity leave. But every woman is entitled to up to 12 months unpaid leave (mine starts next friday).

My company, a pretty big utility company, will give me 14 weeks paid mat leave, which I will take at half pay to spread out. After that I could use my holiday pay or long service leave but I don't have much of either, so I'll be winging it. we've been saving up for the length of the pregnancy, so we should be ok. And if I want to go back to work earlier, I can do that too.

12 weeks paid maternity leave is a fairly common entitlement here, if you work for government or a larger company, but there is no obligation on them to provide it. There is discussion about government provided paid maternity leave here, but it's a fairly divisive issue.

http://myrope.wordpress.com

On the fence and scared

jpolk1 — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 17:26:44 -0600

Had my first very young, and have been through single motherhood. Now married to phenomenal man who, surprise surprise wants us to have kids together. Ok. I knew this going into our marriage. Sometimes I'm really excited about it, and sometimes I'm scared out of pumps! There are days when I look at him and think about how much love our family has to offer a child and how much I miss my daughter, now 10, being a baby. There are a lot more days where I'm exhausted from work, tired of juggling and cannot imagine adding another child, no less an infant, to the mix.

That is exciting!

PunditMom — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 12:17:31 -0500

That's a great reminder of how far we have come and how far we have to go. I wuold love to get inside the head's of the Republican women in the Senate to know what they really think about how women are treated, or mistreated, by the insurance industry.

PunditMom

aka Joanne Bamberger

BlogHer News & Politics Contributing Editor

It was really inspiring

PunditMom — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 12:14:59 -0500

I loved how Senator Mikulski (one of my Seantors, BTW), rule over the Senate floor and call colleague after colleague to the podium. It made me wonder -- what if this happened more? And what if we tried to do it, too? I was so proud to see women standing up together on this issue. I just hope their efforts persuade some people.

PunditMom

aka Joanne Bamberger

BlogHer News & Politics Contributing Editor

Remember the days when there

ebyrdstarr — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 11:12:17 -0500

Remember the days when there were only 2 of us in the Senate? I remember being so excited when we finally doubled that up to 4. This kind of a clip wouldn't have been possible to make just 15 years ago. It's shocking to me that we're still such a small minority, but at least I can't count the number of female Senators on one hand anymore.

Preaching to the Choir

I loved watched all the female Senators!

Erin Kotecki Vest — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 10:49:11 -0500

One after the other they took the floor and it was amazing.

Politics & News Contributing Editor Queen of Spain

More info?

Swistle — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 10:03:10 -0500

I would be interested to know how super-fetation is diagnosed. I can see it if someone gets pregnant with a second months after the first is conceived, but only 2.5 weeks' measurement difference? When I had ultrasounds, the measurements were +/- a certain number of days/weeks to account for the inaccuracy of ultrasound---and when the twins were born, they were 1-2 pounds heavier than estimated at the ultrasound, so it's not very accurate or precise. Also, at birth, one "tested" 37.5 weeks and the other "tested" just under 36 weeks---again, it's a matter of tests not being accurate only in a +/- kind of way. Is there something special in this situation that just isn't mentioned in the story?

A weird fear of mine

AmberS — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 22:54:41 -0500

My first child was born 6 weeks early, which was a big surprise. I woke up at 5am one Saturday when my water broke, and thought I must have wet the bed. Because what else could it be? The fact is that we just do not know how any particular birth will play out.

But that was not really my point. My point is that I have 2 major fears surrounding pregnancy. One is that I will be pregnant for a length of time and not know it. The other is superfetation. Both rather unlikely, but the thought of either is enough to make me break out into a cold sweat.

~ Amber

www.strocel.com

It's Not the MOST Bizarre Thing....

Gidge — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 19:31:20 -0500

When I was pregnant with my twins - at my first ultrasound - at about 11 weeks - they measured the twins and one was "five days" behind in measurement size - and their opinion was that they were fertilized five days apart.

Gidge

I blog at Live From The Wang of America !

No disrespect intended

aftercancer — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 08:08:22 -0500

but I think that the Grovenburg family is going to have twins. This will not be widely announced in the media.

The likelihood of the pregnancy being superfetation is incredibly low and in most cases incredibly optimistic. What is more likely the case in this situation is that one of the twins either has a genetic problem that is hindering its development or it is a case of IUGR - Intrauterine growth retardation. IUGR occurs quite frequently and it's results vary significantly.

Emotionally I am sure it is easier to have the thought that this is a freak of nature as opposed to something that happens all the time, often with negative results, but I really hope that someone has a conversation with this couple that is grounded in reality.

Kate

I blog at http://www.aftercancernowwhat.com